1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to inserters and more particularly a gauging system for simplified set up of an inserter to accommodate specific enclosure and envelope dimensions of a particular run.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Inserters have played a significant role among the labor saving devices available to businesses which are engaged in the daily mailing of large numbers of pieces. Among the advantages of inserter usage has been the reduction in personnel required to process large quantities of outgoing mail. Further, mail room personnel have been relieved of the monotonous task of individually stuffing a seemingly insurmountable number of envelopes. Inserters have been particularly well adapted for use in the mailing of form letters and the like and have been employed for the insertion of personalized documents, e.g. computer generated checks, tab cards, etc. into window envelopes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,914,895 issued Dec. 1, 1959 to Samuel W. Martin and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, an envelope inserter having a ram blade with an enclosure pusher secured to the blade undersurface has been described. The ram blade was mounted for reciprocal movement along a horizontal plane. The pusher engaged an enclosure at an enclosure pick-up station and drove it into the envelope which was seated at an envelope station. In order to open the mouth of each successive envelope for reception of an enclosure and the ram blade, sets of stripper fingers were employed to enter the envelope mouth. The stripper fingers were released from a retracted position by the forward stroke of the ram.
The inserter disclosed in the Martin patent, supra, included many features typical of the Pitney Bowes series 3300 inserters. In the Pitney Bowes Model 3320 Insertamate inserter which employed a ram mechanism similar to that of the Martin patent, a modified enclosure feeder assembly and an envelope feeder assembly were employed. The envelope feeder assembly carried an envelope flapper which was operable to automatically open the flaps of successive envelopes with the feeder assembly delivering envelopes to an envelope station dwell position adjustably controlled by a pair of side guides and a releasable envelope stop gate. Side guides were also provided at the enclosure pick-up station in a manner substantially as disclosed in the Martin patent.
It should be appreciated that before an initial run of a particular size enclosure and/or envelope, the inserter had to be set up to feed and transport enclosures and envelopes. The set up procedure with regard to the Model 3320 inserter included adjustment of the enclosure pick-up station side guides which were mounted to a pair of spaced parallel decks at the pick-up station. The operator was first required to measure and note the length of a specimen enclosure. Retaining screws on each side guide were then loosened and the guides were slid to a position slightly oversized from the noted measurement position utilizing index markings on the decks and side guides.
Thereafter, the inserter motor was turned on and an enclosure fed to the pick-up station while the operator was holding a motor driven hand wheel to prevent the initiation of a ram stroke. The motor was turned off after the enclosure was seated at the pick-up station. The operator was then required to reset each of the side guides to accommodate the enclosure seated at the pick-up station. It was imperative that both side guides were equidistantly spaced from the center of the travel path. It is worthy to note that the operator was required to reach to the rear of the inserter for adjustment of the pick-up station side guide spaced from the face of the inserter.
With regard to envelopes, the set up procedure included adjustment of the envelope stop gate at the envelope station. The stop gate was mounted beneath a cover which was journalled to a shaft extending between a pair of envelope feeder assembly frames. A thumb screw projected upwardly through a slot in the cover. The cover included an index of typical envelope size number markings. The thumb screw was loosened and the gate slid relative to the cover until a pointer which projected through the track from the gate was aligned with an appropriate marker. The markers were not exact, however, and only served as a starting point for further adjustments. This procedure required the operator to have knowledge of the envelope size number for the initial setting and was dependent upon refined adjustments based upon trial and error as well as experience.
For adjustment of the envelope side guides, scale dimensions were provided on an envelope deck and the operator was required to reach behind the envelope feeder to make individual adjustments of each side guide by loosening a thumb screw and moving the guide.
The complicated set up procedure necessitated specific training of mail room personnel. Since an operator was required to physically measure materials and transpose the measurement to corresponding deck markings, potential sources of error occurred in taking initial measurements as well as transposition. Furthermore, a frequent source of error was the failure of operators to symmetrically center the guides.
As part of the operating cycle of the Pitney Bowes series 3300 inserters, two sets of three stripper fingers each entered the envelope throat to open the throat for acceptance of the enclosure and the ram blade. While envelope side guide and stop adjustments were provided in the series 3300 inserters, instances of jamming occurred which could be attributable to the inability of the stripper fingers to adequately adapt to variations in envelope dimensions. While the stop position of stripper fingers was adjustable, prior inserters did not employ means for laterally adjusting the stripper fingers to vary their entrance position relative to the center of an envelope.